The Show Must Go On
by Sakeryu
Summary: Love is endless freedom and sweet melting chocolate. It's the loveliest of bird songs and the softest breeze. Love is the voice of reason and the cooing in your ear. She never knew she could feel like this, but love is so much more. And so the show must go on. I do not own Naruto or it's characters.


**A.N.:** Speculate as you will as to who love is. Let your imagination roam and let your heart sing to the rhythm of love. Remember that each love is different and each roller coaster dives at different speeds. Let's remember what first love is, and let's remember what strength rises from pain.

Happy reading.

**The Show Must Go On**

Sakura didn't know what love was until her fingers ached to touch his larger more calloused hands, her heart pounded faster in her chest as he came closer, her own lips curled upwards unwarranted at his dazzling smile, and her stomach fluttered at the chiming of his laughter. She didn't know what love was until her hands became clammy and her throat tightened every time he grabbed her arm to drag her along to his favorite ramen diner. Sakura didn't know what love was until she couldn't bare to wait for his arrival at the gates of their beautiful city.

Sakura knew how silly she felt when she would get anxious to see him, and then she'd let her playful temper rule her once he came galloping to the scene obnoxiously in his standard way- arms flailing, mouth open practically screeching with his excitement, and his feet stumbling over themselves. He always was a sight to see. One she loved to fondly relive ever possible mission.

It was discovering endless freedom in the midst of a warm summer day and enjoying sweet chocolate which would just melt on your tongue. It was a song sung by the loveliest birds in the early morning and the softest breeze to cool your sweaty skin. It was the voice of reason on the loneliest nights and the cooing of a dear one when you can barely hear past your own sobs.

Every day, Sakura fell more and more into love without ever realizing it. Her cheeks would hurt each morning from smiling too hard. Her ribs would ache each afternoon from laughing too long. Her body would flush each night from an eternal happiness.

Through all the crazy times and the hectic paces they would immerse themselves into, Sakura found the moments each and every time to bask in his glory because for once she had found the love her heart had longed for.

All she could ever dream of she had in him.

It was after a quiet moment at a small pond when they sat in a peaceful silence and she turned to him to see the stars reflecting in his eyes that she realized she was in love. They had just returned together from an strenuous mission where she nearly thought she would lose him. He was badly injured with a kunai piercing through his abdomen, and yet he fought on for her honor. She had roared at him afterward with such a fierce determination to heal him and to make sure he understood that she could care of herself. She poured her chakra into his smooth skin and upon returning home she couldn't leave his side. So from there, they sat together in such harmony and soothing tones. She realized then she never wanted to lose him.

She had rolled over in the grass as he laid silently gazing at her. She tentatively placed her lips to his. Her lips were quivering and after a stunned moment, his lips molded to hers. His arms wrapped around her waist, and he brought them up slowly to cup the back of her head. His fingers threaded through her hair, and she sighed into his kiss. Sakura knew she wanted this moment to last forever.

It was then she made it known to him how much she loved him, and, oh, so joyous, he made it known too.

"Dear Sakura,

First off happy Valentine's Day. Normally I don't really celebrate this holiday but then again I never met anyone like you. I remember you telling me that you are a hopeless romantic and when I think about I think I am too. I hope you think I'm romantic, even though I honestly don't think I know how to be..Seeing that this day is about love I want to tell you that you are the most special person to me in my life. I can't tell you how much you do for me. I really feel blessed to have you in my life. I truly love you babe. I'm sorry if sometimes I come off where all I want is one thing, that's not true at all, I love you inside and out. Thank you for being there for me. I love knowing that you are there for me. I want to be there for you always and for anything. We really do complete each other sweetheart. And that is why I want to be with you, because we love each other and we are best together for each other. Yes, I feel bad for losing Sasuke, but that's not why I want you as my girlfriend or we would have already been together for awhile. I know that you make me feel like a king on a cloud and I want you to be my queen. What's in the past is history..I want you to be my future..

Be mine, Valentine?

With love always."

That was the first of many notes he would write to her when he was away. She held onto them all from Holidays to anniversaries to even just notes he wrote to tell her he loved her. Sakura could never put them away for years. They laid on the nightstand to her bed. Each night she would read each one and cry tears of joy. Each morning she would run her fingers over the folded pages and grazing the envelopes. At some point during the day, she would work her back to the nightstand to look fondly at them and pictures of him.

She loved him with every ounce of her being and Sakura couldn't fathom a day without knowing his love because she herself couldn't fathom a day without loving him.

Time passed together and things were smooth sailing. Work became a second seat to love trips. Friends became double dates. Laughter turned into endless stories of previous times passed. Whispers became roaming hands. Radio songs turned into karaoke sessions. Days became into years.

Letter were being written back and forth. Pictures were taken at every outing. Theaters became a place of familiarity with a culture they only knew. The romance blossomed, and soon they planned together for a forever.

Then a time came when the love letters weren't being written to her. So she tried extra hard to remember to write him even though they saw each other regularly. The days started molding together from mission to mission and night to night. Sakura tried so hard to pick up the romance, to make him feel so wanted and loved. She thought if she compensated for the lack of his display of love, then maybe it would make her feel what he was no longer showing. She wanted to show him then how much he meant to her. She thought it was simply her turn. He would claim everyday he loved her, but she found the sound to be concerning as it lacked the endless freedom, the sweet chocolate, the loveliest songs, the softest breeze, the reasoning tone, and the soothing coo.

Sakura dismissed such thoughts merely as his stress mounting and continued on in what love does best. Sakura's daze blindfolded her for a span. She then noted he spent less time with her- the excuses rolled out, the late nights at the bars grew from weekends to almost daily, the endless messages to others (women, no less) while she sat idly by, and the worst was the empty words of 'I love you too'.

She found her nights turning long and weary. She found her eyes swollen and puffy. She found her heart bleeding out with no one to patch her up.

One night, she found the courage to tell him she had returned the ring she had bought him and she found the courage to tell him she wasn't sure if he had even wanted to move in together. She found the courage then to cry endless to him as he told her that he wanted space, he had chosen his friends and the bars over her, and that he didn't know if he wanted a relationship with her even after so many years.

Her heart cracked, and yet he held her in cold arms which once were so warm. He cooed to her and said that it would work out with her, that he would try. In the end, he took the high road later and told her that he didn't want to be with her through a short message.

Sakura was devastated. She was willing to compromise, willing to let go of the issues that bothered her most, and willing to do whatever it took to not lose him.

But she wasn't worth the fight.

Sakura spent her nights for months wallowing in darkness.

No matter how much space she gave herself, she felt trapped in by her loneliness. No matter how sweet the chocolate, she found it to be bitter tasting on her tongue. No matter how early the birds sang, the songs made her nauseated and drained. No matter how warm the summer breeze was, she still felt the crispness of winter on her. No matter how logically the words sounded, she couldn't wrap her head around them. No matter how loud the coos were, she sobs would drown them out.

Time passed, and she went from utter sorrow to rage and then finally to a bitterness which stung for months. It was another failed romance. Just another heartache. Couples in the streets of her beloved Konoha made her teeth clench tightly. Her stomach churned every time she heard his name. Sakura's fingers would shake violently as she faked a smile day in and day out.

She knew then what life would be like without him; a shadow of what she once was.

Sakura knew that the show must go on. And it did.

Close to a year to date, she looked back on the letters he wrote which she had crumpled and shoved to the farthest regions of her closet. She remembered that love she had, and perhaps still held in heart just so dear. She remembered the greatest moments of shared laughter. She remembered the softest and the fiercest of kisses they shared. Of course, she remembered all the pain of his departure. She remembered the long months afterward. But then she remembered when things spanned out. Her life became more calm and she wasn't as alone. She remembered things being dull for awhile, and then springing back into life like the flowers of the seasons.

She realized then and there, that yes, life does go on. No matter where she goes, a bit of her heart may be gone, but she then knew what love was.

Even though she was loveless at the moment, she knew that love would eventually find her again. She knew that she had the power and the strength to pull herself together after losing what she thought she never would.

The nights grew less dreary. The afternoons weren't as exhausting. The mornings became more of a new dawn. Sakura thought less and less of the man she loved. She threw herself into her work, and she pushed past the pain of yesterday to become a woman of tomorrow.

Love would find her again, but she was prepared this time around for just knowing what love was, was enough for her.

**A.N.:** I am a bit sad to say I fell into this static of love. It started back as a friendship in 2007 that morphed into a love in 2009. As all things, I made due with what I had and loved everyday for a bit over three years. And he, as all things go, had made due to this story line in 2012. It was a tough and long road now that I've been loveless for about a year. But I hope to share with you the strength and the knowledge, that yes, the show goes on and it gets better. Love will find me again as it finds all of us.


End file.
